Waiting For ‘Greatest Christmas Ever’ As A Gator Fan In Santa’s North Pole -- Beautiful Winterland!

While waiting for football season there are things to do in the great white north. Like waiting for the next 7.1 magnitude earthquake to shake me out of bed like the one at 8:29am Nov. 30, 2018. (Matter of fact as this story is being edited we just had a 6.0 nearby.)

There are also plenty of other more pleasant things to do in Alaska, too. Me and a fish. (Linderman family photo)

By JANE (Linderman) OF THE NORTH

The Northernmost Gator

KENAI, Alaska -- I took a wrong turn off I-75 and Archer Road and wound up in Alaska.

A Siberian Husky sled dog team has pulled in the front yard of the igloo. There is a foot of snow on the ground, air temperature is 8 degrees Fahrenheit, just right for these huskies. It has been colder than usual with blizzards but the mail from the lower 48 has arrived in Kenai.

This is how I found out the University of Florida Gator football team has a new coach, Billy Napier.

"Hey Manny, looks like I'm not in Florida anymore!” (Linderman Family photo)

I looked at Billy’s photo and there is a resemblance to Bruce Willis. Strong, confident, intense eyes, set jaw and the wheels are turning in his head. There’s a job to be done to bring the University of Florida back to winning SEC and National championships. Coach Billy Napier is the man in charge now.

Word has reached us by Siberian husky that this is our new coach. (Chris Spears photo)

The Gators had a 6-6 regular football season in 2021. But the bad news is at the Gasparilla Bowl they were upset by the University of Central Florida in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium. The good news was the full Gator Band, more than 400 marchers, were there filling the stadium with great music. I was a member of the Gator Band and am an unfaltering Gator fan 3,000 miles from my hometown of Sarasota.

Coach Napier’s Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns looked sharp in their win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers 24-16 to win the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Championship. Clean passes, strong tackles and athletes that looked exuberant. The Gators new coach also was named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the year in 2021. I’m excited for the 2022 football season to start.

While waiting for football season there are things to do in the great white north. Like waiting for the next 7.1 magnitude earthquake to shake me out of bed like the one at 8:29am November 30, 2018.

Oops! This is what the damage looked like after the earthquake. (Linderman family photo)

I was fast asleep when a boom sound came from below the igloo and it felt like a wrecking ball had hit my upstairs bedroom wall. Then the shaking started, then rolling. A frantic shout from Mr. (Manny) Linderman on the first floor “Janie, you better come down here!” Down the stairs I went holding on to the rails. Pictures on the wall swayed like Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during the end of the third quarter when fans lock arms and sing “We Are the Boys from Old Florida.”

There were aftershocks all day. The highway to Kenai town was cracked open across both lanes. This was quickly filled with sand and patched so we could make Friday night dinner with the Kaknu Kruzers, a car appreciation club. At Louie’s restaurant that night there was a steak special with a free chocolate or vanilla “shake.”

The beauty of wildlife is

everywhere in Alaska and it can take your breath away. (Photo by Scott Rooker)

When the rivers thaw in spring I’ll join the Kenai chapter members of Gold Prospectors of America Association and prospect for nuggets. There is gold on the beach in Kenai and in most rivers on the peninsula. Just south of Anchorage Girdwood has a world class ski resort, Alyeska. Nearby is Crow Creek Mine where I have nice gold nugget found there that hangs on a chain. The 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic downhill gold medal winner Tommy Moe trained at Alyeska.

When I get tired of finding gold, I can go lake, river or ocean fishing. Chinkook, Sockeye and CoHo Salmon, Arctic Char, Rainbow Trout and halibut abound. When you fish for halibut in Cook Inlet I guarantee it will be the prettiest fishing hole you’ve ever been on. Volcanic snowcapped mountains surround the inlet.

Winter is the best time of year. All eyes are on the North Pole. It’s a real town near the Arctic Circle where Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus have a red and green stable with reindeer and a toy shop busy with elves. The streetlights of the town are striped like candy canes and the firetrucks are Christmas red.

Sometimes we see this guy around checking his mail. (Photo Courtesy of Santa Claus)

The post office is busy in the North Pole where hundreds of thousands of letters are addressed to 1 Santa Claus Lane, North Pole, Alaska. When Santa’s sleigh is loaded with presents on Christmas Eve and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and his reindeer friends are harnessed I hear sleigh bells from the igloo. I go outside and look for the North Star. I am one of the first people in the world to see Santa fly across the sky.

Soon brand new footballs will be placed underneath a palm tree outside a football stadium. Statues of Heisman winners Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow look on approvingly from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Coach Billy Napier’s Christmas wish list to Santa Claus has been filled.

Merry Christmas! Go Gators!

Jane Linderman

(jane.gator@gmail.com)

PO BOX 2242

Kenai AK 99611

Some days are not so good for biking. (Lindeman Family Photo)